1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a degradation diagnostic method that executes degradation diagnosis (for example, life diagnosis etc.) of various types of equipment (including, for example, installations such as plants, or electrical or electronic equipment etc.), a degradation diagnostic mediation device and degradation diagnostic device and computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, when examining the degradation condition (for example, remaining life etc.) for determining whether or not updating or maintenance is necessary as a result of a given item of equipment becoming worn out, degradation diagnosis is executed by examining the environment in which the item of equipment is arranged and/or by examining the current degree of degradation of the equipment. Also, in order to infer the degradation condition of equipment, it is necessary to have a grasp of what degree of equipment degradation means that it will no longer be able to provide satisfactory function (has reached the end of its life).
Specifically, when executing degradation diagnosis of equipment, the state of degradation of the equipment must be inferred from the results of an examination of the environment obtained by environmental examination, and information regarding the relationship of the degree of degradation of the equipment possessed by the manufacturer who created the equipment and the state of degradation.
Typically, when executing degradation diagnosis of various types of equipment, the diagnosis requester (who may be the owner of the equipment to be diagnosed) requests a diagnostic service provider that has the detailed diagnostic know-how for the equipment to be diagnosed to carry out the task of diagnosis.
The diagnostic service provider from whom the diagnosis has been requested sends a technician who will execute the diagnosis to the site. This technician takes some time to measure and observe the necessary items for diagnosis. The diagnostic service provider then collects and analyses the necessary data using its own equipment and/or techniques and provides the results to the diagnosis requester.
The diagnosis requester makes payment from time to time for the diagnostic work and/or report. Alternatively, the diagnostic charges may be pre-paid as a service charge which is added in beforehand when the equipment is supplied.
As described above, when equipment degradation diagnosis is executed, environmental examination to obtain a precise grasp of the environment in which the equipment is installed, a diagnostic method of quantitatively evaluating the stress to which the equipment is subjected from the environment, and equipment information indicating what degree of stress results in equipment malfunction are necessary.
However, examination of the environment in which the equipment is arranged, diagnosis of equipment degradation, and ascertaining equipment information are difficult. It is therefore difficult for the diagnosis requester to execute degradation diagnosis of equipment himself.
The diagnosis requester therefore has no alternative to requesting degradation diagnosis from a diagnostic service provider, so the costs of equipment degradation diagnosis are raised.
Also, in order to execute diagnosis the diagnostic service provider must ensure that a technician is always available to the diagnostic service provider.
However, when circumstances occur such as that requests overlap in this same period, it is difficult to ensure supply of a technician, so it is not necessarily possible to guarantee that diagnosis will be executed at the time point requested by the diagnosis requester.
Also, if arrangements are made to guarantee more than the required number of technicians, this imposes a load on the diagnostic service provider in that human resources costs become high.
Also, conventionally, even if exactly the same diagnostic case is experienced, the diagnosis results obtained by each diagnosis requester are the property of the respective diagnosis requesters, so there is no possibility of sharing the diagnosis results between the different diagnosis requesters.
Consequently, even if a plurality of diagnosis requesters wish identical diagnoses to be carried out, the respective diagnosis requesters request identical diagnoses from the diagnosis service provider so that identical diagnoses are repeated in respect of the diagnosis service requesters. Consequently, diagnosis costs and diagnosis labor are inefficient both for the diagnosis requesters and the diagnosis service provider.
Typically, diagnosis service providers have considered avoiding repetition of identical diagnoses by encapsulating diagnostic results for each diagnosis requester. However, for reasons of the duty of secrecy in regard to the data of a diagnosis requester and the fact that even duplicated work can still be charged to diagnosis fees, there is the problem that little progress has been made in regard to amelioration of work duplication.
Furthermore, a method in which, rather than dispatching a technician to measure the environmental data to the site, the diagnostic service provider executes degradation diagnosis by sending to the diagnosis requester an environment evaluation unit whereby the diagnosis requester can measure the environmental data is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-255957.
However, even with the invention of this Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-255957, it is difficult to make degradation diagnosis efficient, since degradation diagnosis is executed for respective diagnostic requests even if the diagnostic case is the same.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a novel degradation diagnostic method, degradation diagnostic mediation device and degradation diagnostic device and computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded whereby the diagnostic know-how of the diagnostic service provider can be published on the Internet and degradation diagnosis executed efficiently for both the diagnosis requester and diagnosis service provider.
The above object is achieved by a degradation diagnostic method, degradation diagnostic mediation device and degradation diagnostic device and computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded constituted as follows.
Specifically, according to the degradation diagnostic method of the present invention, an equipment degradation diagnostic request is input from a diagnosis requester through the network, a degradation diagnosis requests handler is selected in accordance with degradation diagnosis execution condition information determined for at least one degradation diagnostic request handler and condition information in accordance with which the diagnostic requester requests degradation diagnosis, execution of degradation diagnosis is requested of this selected degradation diagnosis request handler, the execution results of the degradation diagnosis obtained by the selected degradation diagnosis request handler are acquired, and are output through the network to the diagnosis requester.
It should be noted that the degradation diagnostic mediator and the diagnostic service provider constituting the degradation diagnosis request handler which execute the degradation diagnostic method of the present invention could be the same or different. The degradation diagnostic mediator collects mediation fees from the diagnosis requester or the diagnostic service provider. Also, the diagnostic service provider may collect diagnostic fees from the diagnosis requester.
The execution condition information of degradation diagnosis specified in respect of the degradation diagnostic request handler includes for example the amount of diagnostic fees, the method/type of degradation diagnosis and the type of information utilized in the degradation diagnosis.
The condition information in accordance with which the diagnosis requester requests degradation diagnosis includes, for example, the amount of diagnostic fees payable, the method/type of degradation diagnosis required by the diagnosis requester, and the type of information which the diagnosis requester can provide for degradation diagnosis.
According to the present invention, mediation can be effected between the diagnosis requester and diagnostic service provider, so degradation diagnosis is requested and degradation diagnosis is executed when their mutual conditions are satisfied.
Consequently, a diagnosis requester can obtain execution results of degradation diagnosis which the requester desires with the fee which the requester desires. Also, a diagnostic service provider can accept from a wide range of sources only degradation diagnostic requests matching its own conditions and can perform degradation diagnosis accordingly.
According to the present invention, when, for example, the environmental information utilized in the degradation diagnosis by the selected degradation diagnosis request handler is deficient, measurement can be requested by selecting a measurement requests handler of such deficient environmental information, so that the measurement results of the deficient environmental information can be provided to the selected degradation diagnosis requests handler.
It should be noted that the measurer of environmental information constituting the environmental information measurement requests handler could be the same as or different from the degradation diagnosis mediator or diagnostic service provider. The environmental information measurer may collect environmental information measurement fees from the degradation diagnosis mediator, diagnosis requester, or diagnostic service provider etc.
Also, according to the present invention, for example, an equipment maintenance request may be input through the network from a diagnosis requester who has obtained the execution results and maintenance may thereby be requested by selecting a maintenance request handler.
An equipment supplier constituting a maintenance request handler may be the same as or different from a degradation diagnosis mediator, environmental information measurer, or diagnostic service provider etc.
Also, according to the present invention, for example the content of a degradation diagnostic request and the results of execution of degradation diagnosis by a degradation diagnostic request handler may be registered in a diagnostic results database and, if a separate i.e. another degradation diagnostic request having a prescribed relationship degradation diagnostic request input from the diagnosis requester is registered in the diagnostic results database, the execution results of the degradation diagnosis based on the degradation diagnosis request having this prescribed relationship may be read from the diagnostic results database and output to the diagnosis requester through the network.
Also, in this case, the diagnosis requester and/or degradation diagnosis mediator that registered its degradation diagnosis execution results in the diagnostic results database may collect a diagnostic results utilization fee from another requester that accessed the diagnostic results database.
As the prescribed relationship, for example, the degradation diagnostic requests may be identical or similar.
In this way, degradation diagnosis execution results may be shared by a plurality of diagnosis requesters, so degradation diagnosis results may be provided to diagnosis requesters in an efficient manner and the business of the diagnostic service provider can be made more efficient.
If the present invention is applied in a modified fashion, information for diagnostic purposes specifying degradation diagnostic processing whereby the state of degradation of equipment can be diagnosed is stored in a diagnostic database, information utilized for degradation diagnostic processing is input from a diagnostic requester through the network, and degradation diagnostic processing executed in accordance with the information for diagnostic purposes stored in the diagnostic database and information input from the diagnosis requester, and these execution results can be output to the diagnosis requester through the network.
The performer of this degradation diagnostic method may collect performance fees of degradation diagnosis from the diagnosis requester. Also, a diagnostic service provider whose information for diagnostic purposes is stored in the diagnostic database may collect fees for the provision of its know-how from the performer of this degradation diagnostic method or diagnosis requester.
The method of degradation diagnosis of the present invention as described above could be utilized in the operation of a degradation diagnosis mediating device or the modified degradation diagnostic method of the present invention could be utilized in the operation of a degradation diagnostic device.
Furthermore, the degradation diagnostic method of the present invention and the modified degradation diagnostic method of the present invention could be utilized by recording a program for execution thereof by a computer on a recording medium.
By employing a recording medium on which such a program is recorded, functions for executing the method described above can be added in a simple fashion to servers, computers, or computational systems that do not have functions for executing the methods described above.